Popularity of the Baby Name Conrad

Posts that Mention the Name Conrad

On November 23, 1914 — just over 100 years ago — the first episode of the 20-episode silent film Zudora was released by motion picture studio Thanhouser. The film starred actress Marguerite Snow as protagonist Zudora.

Here’s a synopsis from late 1914:

Zudora is left an orphan at an early age. Her father is killed in a gold mine he has discovered. Half and hour after learning of the death of her husband, Zudora’s mother–a tight-rope walker with a circus–is stricken with vertigo, falls and is killed.

Zudora and the fortune from the mine, which grows to be worth $20,000,000, are left in the guardianship of Frank Keene, brother of Zudora’s mother. Zudora, giving promise of great beauty, reaches the age of 18. The uncle, who has set himself up as a Hindu mystic and is known as Hassam Ali, determines in his greed that Zudora must die before she can have a chance to come into her wealth, so that it will be left to him.

The 20 installments came out once a week until April 5, 1915.

While Thanhouser insisted that the serial was “a colossal success!” in ongoing advertisements, Zudora was not actually a hit with audiences. One reason for this was that Thanhouser had miscast James Cruze, the hero of their previous (and legitimately successful) serial The Million Dollar Mystery, as the villain in Zudora.

But the film did manage to make an impression on parents. Or at least the title did. The baby name Zudora shows up on the SSA’s baby name list for five consecutive years starting in 1914:

1919: unlisted

1918: 5 baby girls named Zudora

1917: 6 baby girls named Zudora

1916: 7 baby girls named Zudora

1915: 28 baby girls named Zudora (5 in Texas specifically)

1914: 5 baby girls named Zudora

1913: unlisted

Numbers from the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) are similar:

1919: 2 people named Zudora

1918: 4 people named Zudora

1917: 6 people named Zudora

1916: 5 people named Zudora

1915: 28 people named Zudora (plus one more with Zudora as a middle)

1914: 9 people named Zudora

1913: none

Interestingly, according to Moving Picture World, one of those 1914 Zudoras was the niece of the late Charles J. Hite, who had been the president of Thanhouser from 1912 until he died in an automobile accident in mid-1914.

The film may have also had an influence on poet Conrad Aiken, whose 1916 chapbook Turns and Movies includes a poem called “Zudora.”

So what does the name Zudora mean? The sources I checked claimed it meant “laborer,” but each gave a different origin (e.g., Arabic, Indian, Persian, Sanskrit, Urdu). Finally, on a random belly dancing site, I stumbled upon a plausible etymology:

Zudora a Variant Form of the Sanskrit Sudra, Meaning “Menial Laborer.” a Sudra Is a Member of the Fourth and Lowest Hindu Caste.

Shudra, also spelled Sudra, is indeed the lowest Hindu class — below the Brahmins, Kshatriya, and Vaishya, but above the Dalits (the untouchables). “The Shudra have classically lived lives of service. Slaves were often classified as Shudra, as were cobblers, blacksmiths, maids, cooks, and so forth.”

A reader named Heather has a 2-year-old named Tucker David (nn Tuck) and is expecting twin boys. She writes:

We were thinking of Henry Edward and Andrew William (we would call him Drew for short) as names because all 4 are family names, but think they might be a bit too traditional and might flow with Tucker. We are looking for some suggestions. Nothing starting with the letter T, please. We have nephews named Travis and Timothy and our dogs name begins with T as well – haha!

Two or three syllables would be best. 1 syllable can be kind of short considering our last name is only 1 syllable.

Our heritage is English, Irish and Czech. We are not bound to that, but typically are drawn to it as a preference. :)

(Their surname sounds like Hoyt, but starts with an F.)

I think Henry and Andrew sound good with Tucker. I know some parents prefer that their children’s names “match” on a stylistic level, but I think non-matching sibsets sound just fine, so long as they don’t go too far in the other direction (e.g. Abdul-Aziz, Rodolphe & Bud).

I’m also a big fan of family names, so I like Henry and Andrew (and Edward and William) for that reason as well.

A reader named Marissa, who has a daughter named Beatrix Penelope (nn Bea), is expecting twins–one boy, one girl. She’s got their middle names narrowed down (Anthony or Alexander for the baby boy, Daphne or Jillian for the baby girl) but she’d like some help with their first names.

Here’s what she’s looking for in a boy name:

For the boy I’d like names that are two syllables long and start and end in a consonant. So far I like Robert, Patrick, Daniel and Fabian. The only one he likes is Fabian, but we’re still not sure.

And here’s what she’s looking for in a girl name:

For the girl I’d like names that are three or four syllables long, and start and end in a vowel. So far I like Anastasia, Ophelia, Elena and Ursula, but he likes none of them.